Also, it breaks the fourth wall. During character creation and you pop on new armor, your character is admiring the new armor that just appeared onto them.

In-game when that character is supposed to be "you" it wouldn't make sense for you to look surprised at the gear you intended to put on. You don't think "oh hey, where did this come from? It looks nice" everytime you put on your shoes do you?

And yes, you can do the emote if you really want to.